A Human, an Imp, and a Shadow
by jumbochamploonrules
Summary: It was a normal day in Ordon Village up until the Twilight began to happen. Link's friends are all kidnapped, he is now able to turn into a wolf, and he will soon meet a fellow imp as well as the true identity of his favorite animal partner. Twilight Princess fanfic. T for cursing and may be bumped up to M if need be.
1. Ch1: The Start of Adventure

**This is a fanfic about The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. All characters in this fanfic are owned by Nintendo with the exception of my OC, Epsie.  
This fic will be told in her POV along with Link and Midna.  
** **Also, the fanfic will have Link talking in it. I find it hard to write with silent protagonists...  
** **With all this out of the way, let's start the fanfic!**

* * *

When I woke up that day, I knew that I'd have to go deliver a gift to Hyrule for my boss. It made me sad that I had to leave the kids behind, who viewed me as a role model of sorts, but I knew that they'd be okay. I stretched my arms as I got out of my bed, climbing down the ladders of my loft until I hit the floor. "Mm... Having a house fashioned out of a tree is very nice," I smiled to myself. I usually talked to those I trusted and I didn't like talking to people that made me mad... it's some kind of weird shyness factor I have.

I then walked outside and saw that my friends were out there grooming Epona, the best horse I've ever had and my trusted partner. "Thanks for helping out, guys, I really appreciate it," I smiled at them as I walked down the ladder of my elevated door and smiled at them all.

Malo was the youngest of the children, his body having lots of baby fat on it. He was also very shy himself, but he was unnerving towards any danger and didn't cry once a day in his life. Talo, his older brother, was always getting into a lot of trouble, which involved me having to rescue him from some monsters just yesterday when he tried to chase a monkey. Colin was the middle child of the group, always wanting to get stronger by any means necessary, including trying to challenge everyone to arm wrestling when given the chance. Beth was the girl among the group, and she was always getting the other boys out of trouble just as much as I did.

"You're welcome Link," Malo said shyly with a smile. "We made sure to get her all shiny for your trip to Hyrule," Beth said with a smile. "Thanks... hey, where's Ilia?" I asked, noticing the obvious. Ilia was the second eldest young one in the village besides me, being a year younger than me and being very cute and pretty. She was very protective over Epona's health, so when she wasn't with them, it worried me. "She wanted to see you off in town," Talo smirked widely. "Okay then. Ready, Epona?" I smiled at my steed.

She whinnied happily and gladly trotted alongside me as I went into town to find Ilia and pick up the important item to be delivered to Hyrule. "Oh! By the way Link! Before you go... could I see your sword? I wanna play with it!" Talo smirked from behind me. I smiled and took the wooden sword and gave it to him, knowing that he was a good sword swinger and that the wooden blade wouldn't hurt him too badly. "Good job, Link. Now he'll be playing hero all day," Beth smirked. I smiled and waved bye as I walked some more until I got into town and up to the mayor's house.

It was there that I saw mayor Bo and Ilia outside the house. "Link! It's so good to see you!" Ilia smiled at me, only then getting distracted by something that I hoped she wouldn't notice. The small cut on Epona's leg that happened during my excursion to rescue Talo yesterday. "Link! How can you be so cruel?! Epona's leg is hurt!" Ilia growled at me. "S-Sorry... let me explain.." I said as I tried to talk my way out of it... only for Ilia to leave and completely ignore me. "Come on, Epona, girl. Let's heal you up at the spring," she smiled as I looked at Bo with a frown. "Damn... without Epona, you can't deliver the package on time! You need to go talk to her, Link," Bo frowned.

"Yeah..." I frowned as I followed Ilia to where she was heading, the village spring, and being stopped by Colin. "Hey, Link? Ilia took Epona to the spring, didn't she?" Colin asked me. "Yeah... I need her to go deliver something, but she is fretting over one tiny cut," I frowned at him. "No matter... I'll go try and talk to her for ya. Follow me in one minute," Colin said with a smile. I did as he said and waited until he was out of view for me to start following.

Once I reached the area, I decided it best to sneak through the hidden cave to get in there, knowing that Ilia tended to lock the gate when treating Epona. After shimmying through the tight hole, I exited on the other side to see Ilia look at me with a small frown. "So... you were involved in all that yesterday?" Ilia asked me with a sigh. "I told her that you saved Talo yesterday and you needed Epona's help to do so," Colin frowned. "Thanks.. yes, and Epona was able to move perfectly fine with it, you know?" I frowned at her. "Yeah... sorry about being so mean to you..." Ilia said.

"It's ok-" I was about to say before something shocking happened. What happened? A gang of gigantic boar monsters and people riding them suddenly came in and they looked way too tough! I tried to block them from getting to Colin or Ilia, but then I noticed something else... Epona had suddenly vanished and some of the boar riders had the other kids with them and knocked them unconscious! "YOU BASTARDS!" I exclaimed as I tried to hit the one in the face with my slingshot, which just bounced off when he put down his metal visor. He knocked all three of myself, Ilia, and Colin on the ground, which knocked the wind out of me and Colin and Ilia went unconscious. I couldn't defend my friends at all... it made me feel so helpless...

When the guys left with my friends in tow, I felt something else happen to my body... it felt like my body was morphing into a shape I didn't recognize... and when it finally subsided, I looked at my reflection in the water and gasped. I... I didn't look anything like I did before! I was now a wolf! "AAAOOOOHHHH!" I exclaimed, since I couldn't speak anymore... and then... it all went black.


	2. Ch2: Prison Break

When I saw what had happened to the young boy after his friends were all captured, I was so shocked that I just had to know more. Much more... so when the guards finally came and teleported him to Twilight again, I simply had to hide in his shadow and warp myself to his locked up area. And it just so happened to be in the jail area of castle Hyrule, which had been enveloped in Twilight. And where they locked him up happened to be in the Hyrule prison.

I smiled when the young boy woke up and looked shocked at his location, as well as shocked that he was still a wolf and that he was chained to the ground. I was still in his shadow, which I quickly exited when he looked down for a sec. "Heehee!" I giggled at him, getting his attention. I walked up to the boy gone wolf and smiled. "Well, looks like this dog can't get out," I smirked wryly, making the boy growl lowly at me. "Ooh! How vicious! I was planning on helping you out if you'd be a tad bit nicer," I smirked happily, making him stop growling immediately.

"That's better!" I smirked as I then focused my powers of Twilight and cut off the chains that kept him down, which I could tell shocked him. "Well, you're partially free now, so now you need to get out of here yourself... maybe try and find a hole or somethin'?" I giggled as I warped myself outside of the bars again. The young boy nodded once and looked around, noticing a box in the one corner by the bars. He quickly jumped and broke the box in one fell swoop, which actually made me a bit impressed, though I kept it hidden.

He then started digging out of the hole and popped out on the other side perfectly fine. "Heehee! Now I hope you don't mind, but in exchange for me helping you escape, I expect you to listen to me from here on out like a good pet," I smiled as I jumped onto the wolf boy's back and giggled to myself. He tried to get me off of him, but I held on and smirked. "Listen, you don't really have a choice in the matter, boy. You can't escape this place that easily. Besides, how do you think you can save your friends if you're trapped in a dungeon?" I asked him.

This made him stop growling and trying to buck me off and he finally complied. "Okay. I'll hang on now, so you just go on and I'll help you escape this place," I smiled at him. "Heh. Cute couple," I heard a voice say from around me that I actually didn't recognize for a change. It sounded like a girl's voice, but it obviously had a bit of an echo to it, like all Twilight beings did. "Was that a Twilight person that just spoke?... Ah well, if they show up, they show up. Let's go forward boy!" I smirked as the young boy rushed forward and into the next part of the dungeon.

After finding that the next door was locked, he dug under another portion of ground and now we were in the sewer area. It was also here where I saw something very very odd. There was only 1 spirit that was here before, but now there were 2, and one of them looked to be... waving at me. I knew that this was very unique, as nearly all the spirits I'd met in the past couldn't see those that weren't Shadow Beasts or spirits themselves.

The spirit in question looked to be a unique girl herself, having dark black hair that fell to her waist like a horse's main, she had black patches of skin on her body around her abdomen, ears, and her hands, and parts of her body looked to be those fitting of an animal, with her tail being a monkey's and her feet being those of a dog. And her ears? Definitely those of a fox. She was also dressed in a single dress that looked to be made of animal hide.

"Hey. What's up?" she smirked at me, which confused the boy upon hearing it. "Try sensing for the people behind the spirits, boy," I smiled at him. "His name isn't 'boy', twilight imp," the girl spirit said to me, confusing myself and the other spirit with her. "His name is Link... and I am his best friend Epsie," she spoke, her voice sounding really down to earth.

Link looked perplexed at the girl, and barked a couple of times. "Well, Link, that's actually what I prefer to be called... I believe you and your friends called me my full name... 'Epona'... correct?" she said, Link's expression turning to one of shock. "Wait... are you implying that you were that horse that up and disappeared?" I asked her, knowing that the horse was named that as well. "Yeah, I am... by the way, Link... how does it feel to be the animal steed instead? Doesn't seem to suit your fancy," Epsie smirked at Link, which I could see some red cheeks underneath his fur. "Can we just move on and meet our very important princess? We need her to give us the rundown of where we're at," I frowned at her. "Fine... but I will help you there myself," Epsie frowned as she took the Spirit and gave him a spear that she actually forged from a strand of her hair. "T-Thanks, milady! I can finally defend myself from these vile beasts!" the spirit of the soldier exclaimed.

After that all happened, Epsie led me and Link through the sewers where we had to raise the water, make it fall again, and all the while keep moving forward and occasionally defeat the shadow beasts that were around... though some of them ignored us entirely when Epsie took the fray first. "Heh. Shadow beasts don't attack anyone with their blood," Epsie smirked, her words confusing me more. "What are you implying, horse girl?" I asked her in confusion. "I am implying, imp girl, that I am equal parts spirit, shadow beast, and animal, since my mother was a shadow beast and my father was the spirit of a horse. And with my abilities, I am able to turn into any creature I wish, even a dragon," Epsie smirked.

"Wow... sounds like an awesome power," I gawked at her. "Yeah, the only downside is that I can only change into any animal when in Twilight. In the real world, I am restricted to horse only," Epsie explained. "Well, I guess you'd need to balance out that kind of power," I sighed. "Yep," she sighed.

We had by this point made it to the rooftops of the castle and Link looked in awe at the place. Couldn't blame him, since he probably never even heard of Twilight before. "Now do you know where we are, master?" Epsie asked Link with a frown. Link shook his head no. "You are in the realm of Twilight, a place that has no day and no night and where all of the inhabitants, save a select few, are turned into spirits... I have no doubt in my mind that your friends were taken to a Twilight-ridden land as well... I sincerely pray that they are alright..."

"Well, no use in gawking over the scenery, we still need to meet our friend before we can leave this place," I said as I pointed up to the tallest tower around us. "That tall tower is our destination, so let's move it!" I frowned. Link, Epsie, and I continued to scale the different towers and roofs until we finally made it to the tower, which had a fair good bit of flying shadow beasts on the way, none of them attacking us with Epsie on our side.

"Okay, now let's jump up to this place... or I could just fly us all in there," Espie smirked widely. She then did the impossible and transformed herself into a large phoenix! She smirked at us and latched her talons gently around Link and flew the two of us through the window and into the tower. Once we touched down, Epsie returned to normal with a smirk. "You're welcome, master," Epsie said with a smile as she whipped her hair back. "Now let's meet our princess. I'm sure we'll be in for a riveting story," I giggled as we pushed open the door and we were in the presence of our resident princess. The Twilight Princess.


	3. Ch3: The Twilight Princess

I didn't expect that there would be an actual princess of Twilight, but she looked to be completely humanoid in form on top of that... though it was hard to tell, as she was dressed in a full black cloak that covered her everywhere, only her eyes showing. "Midna? Is that you?... And who are these two that you've brought with you?... I've not seen a being like this woman before, and... wait... I sense something about this wolf you have..." she spoke in a calm, serene voice, something I admired. "Well met, your majesty... I am Epsie... nice to meet you... and whatever," I said with a frown. Yeah, I admired her, but I didn't respect her... yet. She had to earn that much.

"And your friend here..." the princess said. "His name is Link. He's my master," I said with a stern face. "He's not a spirit... and yet he has been transformed by the powers of Twilight... did you do this, Midna?" she asked the imp girl. "No, he was knocked for a loop, watched his friends get stolen by some Twilight minions from the real world, and now he's turned into a wolf," Midna explained. "I see... this is surely a sign of hope... for everyone..." the princess spoke as I saw something form underneath her blue eyes. She was feeling hopeful. I could sense emotions with my own heightened senses, and she was feeling hope, the strongest emotion one could feel.

"If you all haven't guess already, this is Hyrule Castle... and even though it has been enveloped in Twilight, I remained its princess..." the girl spoke, her words making the realization hit me and Link like a bomb. "Y-You're... Princess Zelda?..." Link gawked, even if the others heard a whine and a gasp. "Yes... I am Princess Zelda... and this is what happened to my kingdom..." she said as she activated something that was embedded in her palm. A piece of the fabled Triforce, which had been passed down through the Hyrule royal family for millennia. The Triforce of Wisdom.

We all then got a vision as we all saw ourselves at some kind of flashback. "A long time ago, the spirits of our world and the rulers of Twilight made a pact that we would never again war with each other... but even I foresaw that the pact would not last... I tried to prepare the troops of my castle as best as I could, but even they were no match for the shadow beasts and their army..." Zelda spoke as we saw her standing near her throne with a Twilight portal opening up out of nowhere, a single person coming out as well as a whole army of the shadow beast warriors.

I then watched in horror as all of the soldiers were powerless against the beasts and they were prepared to play dirty by means of hostages. "We will give you the choice, princess," said the leader of them, who was wearing a metal bird mask. "You can either surrender and let your citizens live... or you can die and have you whole world die with it. Your choice. Life for all? Or death for all?" he spoke, his voice very dark and brooding.

I then watched in sadness as I saw Zelda cry silent tears as she simply dropped her sword, unable to cope with everyone dying. I never thought I would say it, but that took some gall to do. She had earned my respect. "Zelda... that took tremendous courage to do... I know it may not seem like much, but I promise you this: we will restore this land back to normal and rescue every single soul trapped in Twilight along with it! You have my word and Link's," I said sincerely. "I thank you, Epsie and Link... you should go now. The warden is going to make his daily visit up here soon," Zelda sighed. "Of course... do you mind, Midna? Or would you like me to do it?" I asked her with a frown. "Yeah, yeah, I'll do it," Midna frowned as she warped Link and myself away... I guess she didn't like leaving Twilight.

* * *

Upon us returning to the real world, Link and I were both shocked that he was still in wolf form, which confused me a lot. "Teehee! Now, guys, let's go off in search of some weaponry! We can't very well fight the shadow beasts without some proper equipment, right?" Midna smirked at Link and me from afar... should've expected her to hide in someone's shadow. But why'd it have to be mine? "Could ya maybe, I don't know, hide in master's shadow rather than my own?" I growled at her. "Feisty, aren't you? Very well then... now go on. Get to finding a sword and a shield why don't ya?" Midna smiled as she warped her stature into Link's shadow. "Well then, master... let's go on," I smiled at him. "Um... sure, Epsie...


	4. Ch4: Getting Equipped for Twilight

I may have been a wolf now, but I was still the same person. So the fact that Midna was treating me this way wasn't really my cup of tea... at least Epona... no... Epsie was there by my side. She also went with us into town and the people in town weren't suspicious of her at all.

I waited in the shadows as Epsie walked up to the door to get a shield, which was home to some people I helped yesterday in retrieving a cradle. "Hey. I'm lookin' to save some kids... Care to help out?" she asked Uli and Rusl, the two that were expecting a second child. "So... you're here to help us? Care to share your name?" Rusl asked. "Name's Epsie... though you probably remember me in this form better..." Epsie smiled.

She then clapped her hands together and her body completely morphed into that of her horse form, shocking the duo greatly. "W-WHOA! I-Is that... are my eyes right? Y-You're Link's horse?!" Rusl exclaimed in shock. "Yes. And I need that sword to help him rescue the others... long story short, he got turned into a wolf from some kinda magic, so I'm needing that sword until he's back to normal," Epsie said when she returned to her normal state. "O-Of course! In fact, I'll also alert the others to give you that sword! You can't have a shield without a sword, after all!" Rusl gawked as I stood there in awe. Epsie had just saved a lot of time by doing this.

"Well... that was certainly impressive. Now that they know we're on their side, we can get that sword and shield in a snap!" Midna smirked from my shadow. "Rgh..." I growled a bit, which spooked Rusl a bit as he handed the shield to Espie. "Don't be scared if you hear growling... It's only master Link," Epsie smirked as she looked over to where I was stationed... in the shadows behind the house. "Come on, master. They won't hurt ya," Epsie frowned. I guess it was my turn to play the animal sidekick for now.

I walked slowly out of the shadows and looked at Rusl and Uli with a small grin, both of them looking stunned by what I looked like. "Wait... what is that marking on his forehead? I know I've seen it somewhere before..." Uli frowned as she looked at something on my face that I hadn't seen yet. She then gasped and jumped back. "I-It's the Triforce! H-He's got a piece of the Triforce?! T-Then that means..." Uli gulped. "Means what?" Epsie asked. "It means that he is a descendant of the great heroes of old! And since he's a descendant of those heroes, it's gotta be the Triforce of Courage," Rusl gawked at it.

"Um... hate to interrupt, but we kind of need to get going. We have some friends to save, after all," Epsie frowned as she got the sword from the elder (who walked past me like it was no big deal) and we now had everything we needed. "We trust ya Link... Please... save the children of Ordon! Save all of them!" Uli begged me. I nodded my head and looked toward the open area. It was now time for me to head out to Twilight.

We then proceeded past the other houses, mine included, until we approached the pass that would lead to the bridge. "Wait..." said a voice as I entered the place. "D-Did you hear something?" Epsie asked me. "I... I think I did..." I gulped. "Come. To the spring..." the voice said once more, making shivers go down our spines.

We listened and made a beeline for the spring, seeing that it was covered in a shimmering light. And when I stepped in the water, something happened. I heard a strange noise come from the spring as a being began to take shape in front of me. It looked to be a giant wolf made of light with a large sphere of light inside a headset on it's forehead. "O Great Hero... I am Ordona... the keeper of this spring..." the voice said in our heads.

"Your world is on the brink of utter chaos... and only you and your courage can stop this world from destruction," Ordona said. "Peh. Course we will," Epsie frowned. She was definitely a sassy girl, that much was for sure. "In order to restore a section of land enveloped in Twilight... you will need to find the resident spirit of that land who's light was stolen away... find them and they will give you a vial like this..." Ordona said as the spirit materialized a vial in front of us. "I wish you the greatest of luck, o great hero," Ordona said before completely vanishing from the air.

"Well... so you are a 'great hero', huh? Well, let's see you put that girl's words into action! Let's get going to Twilight! I'll take ya there once we arrive," Midna said in my shadow with a giggle. "Okay. Let's do it," I said as I rushed forward out of the spring, made a hard right, and ran across the wooden bridge to the other side. And then I saw a giant wall of brownish-black light in my way. "Ah! The portal to Twilight! You want me to take you in?" Midna asked with a smirk. "How about I do it instead?" Epsie asked with a smirk as she picked me up like I were a young puppy and walked me right through the wall. She wasn't only good at speaking, she was also very strong in her own right.


	5. Ch5: On the way to Faron Woods

Once Link and Epsie joined back up with me in Twilight, I didn't expect that Epsie would have the sword and shield on her to begin with. "You think I'd trust someone like you with a sword? It's as big as you are," Epsie frowned at me when I asked why I couldn't have the sword. "Hey! I can't control how big I am! Blame that on the one who turned me into this... thing!" I exclaimed at her, getting a little fed up with how she always ruined my good mood.

"Speaking of that, Midna, what is your end goal in all of this? It's obvious you are in love with Twilight, so why are you insisting on helping us? You even said back in the castle that you thought Hyrule looked better when covered in Twilight," Epsie asked me, which only irritated me even more. "Rgh.. if you want to know the short version, I'm mad at the one who turned me into this, so I'm going to gather some special items to teach him a lesson... and to hopefully regain my old body again," I frowned. That was my end goal after all, and I really didn't want to tell these guys that right now.

We continued forward until we reached an area that immediately had us surrounded by an electric fence. We were ambushed! "Crud! These things are Shadow Beast soldiers! They aren't gonna be friendlies!" I exclaimed as Epsie took the sword and shield and took one look at the Shadow Beast with a frown. "So. How are ya guys doin'?... Specially you," Epsie frowned as she looked at one of the three different Shadow Beasts, which confused the hell out of me. She was acting nice to them!

The one Shadow Beast looked at Epsie for a second before looking at the others and speaking its own dialect. "Uh huh. Just let us pass, mother... this thing you guys are doin'? Not right in the slightest. Twilight is Twilight and the World of Light is the World of Light. Okay?" Epsie asked the shadow beast, which finally made sense as to why she was being nice to them and why they hadn't attacked us yet. Because the one was her mom.

The shadow beasts then looked at Epsie's mom, who began to talk to the others in Shadow Beast dialect again. The other beasts then nodded in silence and they returned to wherever they came from, leaving the portal behind for us. "Heehee! Nice job there, Epsie! Now, if we encounter another portal ambush that may or may not have your relatives in it, we can use that portal to teleport to these areas!" I smirked at her.

"Hmph. Don't thank me yet," Epsie frowned as she walked forward with Link and me by her side. "A Shadow Beast's instincts are it's first initiative. Protecting family is their biggest one. I have no idea as to whether mother will still be alive after all of this is done, so I may as well keep moving forward with the knowledge that the one responsible for this war may kill her."

Link looked at Epsie with a troubled whimper which I hoped Epsie could translate. "You wish to know how I can survive in your world as a mere horse, master?" Epsie asked with a smile. "Yeah... now that I think about it, Shadow Beasts shouldn't be able to even exist in the World of Light! Hell, I can only be there as a part of you guys's shadow, as too much exposure can kill even a Twili like me," I said with a gulp. "Well, because I was the offspring of a spiritual horse and a Shadow Beast, I am immune to light because one of my parents was once a member of the World of Light. My animal parts that are all over my body, however, I have no idea as to where they came from," Epsie frowned.

By this point we had already reached the next area and we found that it was a spring. And we could see a ball of dwindling light there among the Twilight. "Um... are you the spirit of this place?" I asked it. "Indeed... that is I... though my power... it has been stolen..." the ball of light said as it summoned a small trinket like the one that Ordona showed us. "Take this spirit vessel... collect the Tears of Light... they have been stolen by monsters... that resemble insects... O great heroes... I implore your aid..." the spirit said to us.

I nodded my head and Epsie took the vessel with a smile. "We shall do this duty, great spirit," Epsie said as she put it around her neck with a string of her hair, forming it into a kind of necklace. "Okay, now we need to find out where those particular Shadow Beasts are... or rather, Shadow Bugs... don't worry, because I can sense them for the best of them! But in order to see them, we need to use either Link's senses or your spirit form," I said with a frown. "That's the idea... by the way... I can smell one nearby..." Epsie said as she sniffed the air and suddenly turned into a spirit. "Follow me..." she said ominously.


	6. Ch6: Shadow Bug Hunt Uno

Hunting for the Shadow Bugs turned out to be a little bit more difficult than I was anticipating, as they always seemed to fly around higher than me or Link could reach. We found this much out when fighting our first one just outside of the spring and towards the one house with the man that gave Link the key to the gate. "These things are pretty feisty, aren't they?" I asked the other two with a frown as I collected a blue light that came out of the bug after it exploded.

"You can say that again," Midna smirked as if it were a joke. That was one thing that I noticed about Midna. I knew exactly who she was, but she always seemed strangely positive despite going through what she went through. It wasn't everyday that you had to watch your entire race of people turn into monsters and then being turned into an imp yourself as a cruel joke. So the fact that Midna was still so upbeat and cheerful, even if it was at mine and master Link's expense, was a bit of an enigma to me.

We had already made it to a person's house that was enveloped by Twilight and I could smell some bugs inside it. "There are bugs in this house. I'll handle them, so you guys stay," I frowned as I opened the door and was immediately ambushed by the bugs. "H-Help! Save me!" a man exclaimed from a hiding spot on a bookshelf. He was a spirit, that much was already established. I smirked when the bugs came at me and I simply slashed them up with my sword, one swing being enough for each of them. "O-Oh?... D-Did you just kill them?" the man asked me.

I was a bit confused when he asked this, as I wasn't in spirit form when I killed the bugs. "D-Did you just speak to me?" I asked him in curiosity. "Yes, I did... is there a reason I shouldn't be?... By the way, I can only see your shadow, but I can hear you perfectly... are you a ghost or something?" the man asked. "Heh. I'm just a person that wants to help," I smiled as I finished collecting the tears of light into the vial and I then walked back out the door.

"So? What happened in there?" Midna asked. "I got the bugs handled and the flask filled with their tears. Also, apparently I'm able to be seen when I'm not a spirit, but only my shadow, and I was able to be heard by that guy in there," I frowned at the two. "Sounds very strange to me," Link mumbled to himself. "It doesn't matter, does it? We need to continue onward and get some more bugs killed," Midna frowned. "Peh. I knew that much, princess," I smiled with a wink, making Midna blush in embarrassment.

"Princess?" Link asked. "If he asks you if I'm really a princess or not, do NOT tell him a word! I will tell him when the time is right," Midna growled at me as she pointed her hair at me. Hair manipulation was a pretty cool move, sure, but she could do that in her Twili form as well. "Fine, imp princess," I smiled with a wink, Link whining at this as we came across the gate that we had to go through to rescue Talo yesterday.

"I'll just warp through, master. You can dig right there, right?" I smiled at Link as I warped my body on the other side of the gate, another trait that Shadow Beasts had. Link dug in the soft patch of dirt by the edge of the gate and, after doing so, managed to squeeze out on the other side. "Time for a trek through the caves... this used to be one of my pastimes while you were sleeping, Link. Walking through the caves so I could get some food on the other side. Sweet, sweet honey," I smiled at the thought until we had to fight off some Shadow Beasts that were bats.

I had to admit, the only enemy among these guys that still hated my guts were these damn bats and those infamous Poe ghosts. Both were utter nuisances and they even attacked other Shadow Beasts when they felt like it. It was no surprise to me that the bats would try to take some chunks out of me. Too bad that they were a stupid race, as I simply slashed them away with my own unique arms of giant mantis!

"Whoa! You've got some sickle arms now!" Midna exclaimed at my hands. "One of the best traits of being able to morph your body into any animal? You can change their size or even just simple body parts to make even your body a deadly weapon," I smirked as I turned them back to normal upon us reaching the end of the caves. "Be careful when you choose to use those sickle hand powers, Oopsie, because you dropped this when you turned them to scythes," Midna frowned as she held the sword in her hair.

"What. Did. You. Call. Me?" I growled when she called me that name. "Sheesh, it was only a joke! Damn, can't have any kinda humor around you," Midna frowned at me. "I don't like being called joke names, Midna. And I'll be taking the sword back now," I frowned as I took the hilt right off of her orange hair strands. "Hmph. While you go over this river of poison clouds yourself, I'm going to have Link jump there," Midna frowned as she went over to one of the areas nearby and hovered atop a wooden beam for the broken bridge. "Don't worry, I'll be fine, Epsie," Link winked at me as he jumped after Midna, going up into the trees rather than across the lower branches. "Ah well," I smiled as I hovered along myself until we were where my sniffer smelled the bugs. On the way towards where Link freed Talo.

Once Link caught up with me with Midna astride his back, I saw that he had collected at least 3 more tears of light, which made me smile. "Now let's go forward and get the last of them," I smirked as we moved forward and I had us walk by some more shadow beasts that wouldn't dare attack me. The bird-shaped ones... that was until we got surrounded in the cliff area, once again having to deal with the Warrior shadow beasts.

I looked at them and knew that they wouldn't be willing to be nice to us, especially since none of them were family. "Hmph. I apologize, but I must put you out of your misery," I sighed as I focused my power and I turned into my best form, which shocked Midna and Link immensely. My legs and arms grew bigger and thicker, my body puffed up to a tremendous size, and my head now grew horns out of it. I also got a flame sac in my lungs. You guessed right, I turned into my dragon form.

I smiled at the tiny Shadow Warriors and simply stepped on all three of them in a group, destroying them all instantaneously. I smiled and reverted back to normal form, making my master and his rider very confused and perplexed. "Heh. You look pale as a Poe ghost," I smirked at the two. "S-Sorry... I guess I underestimated your animal capabilities is all... never really believed you when you said you could turn into a dragon," Midna gawked at me. "Me neither.." Link woofed. "None taken," I smiled as I kept my flame sac intact in case we had to deal with the bugs soon.

And sure enough, we did. We ended up destroying some in front of the parrot vendor and then, at the exact spot we rescued Talo and the female monkey, I was stunned to see the same female monkey from before there, only with bugs surrounding her. "H-HELP! KIKI!" she exclaimed in her cute voice, which I gladly obliged. "Hey, dumb insects! Come and taste some fire on for size," I smiled as I got both their attention and the monkey's.

Once the bugs came flying after me, I breathed a different kind of breath on them than other dragons. Mine was one of petrifying rather than one of flaming. Once I breathed on the bugs, they stopped flying and fell to the ground, completely incapacitated. "W-Who's there?" the monkey asked in worry. "A fellow animal, an imp, and a shapeshifter coming to the rescue," I smiled as I stepped on the bugs, surprising Link that they were still squishy. "Petrification doesn't mean you are turned to stone, rather it means that you are unable to move. You can still see everything happening around you when petrified and it only lasts for a short duration," I explained in full as I smashed the last of the bugs, just as it was beginning to stir. "Okay... this should be the last tear," I said as I put it in the vial and we were stunned by what happened next.


	7. Ch7: Midna's One Weakness

Upon us collecting the last tear of light, I was stunned to see that we had been returned to the Faron spring and that the vial left us and went directly into it, light immediately being restored everywhere as Midna returned to being in my shadow... and I then saw that I was back to human form too! And I was dressed... in some weird green tunic. "Heh. Nice duds, master," Epsie smiled at me as I saw the spirit form back to normal in front of me. It looked to be a giant being made of light, shaped to look like a monkey with it's ball of light being balanced on its arms, unlike being in its forehead with Ordona. And it also had a giant tail that went all the way around its body.

"Thank you, great hero... I am Faron, the keeper of these woods..." the spirit said, her voice sounding even more soothing than Ordona. "Times are grim, heroes... the creatures of Twilight are descending on your world and they are hoping to encase all of your world in Twilight... the only way to restore the next part of your world from Twilight is to go to the Forest Temple to the northeast of this area... you may know it as the place where you rescued your friends... enter and defeat the darkness in the temple... only then will the way be open for you to continue onward... as for you, great hero, wear the clothes of your ancestors... the clothes of the great heroes of Hylia. They are the ones you are currently robed in," Faron spoke.

"Can't you teleport us there?" Epsie asked with a frown. "Sadly, I still need to recover my powers... you must continue on foot... but I can gift you with a certain ability, woman of 3 species," Faron spoke, looking at Epsie specifically. "Um... what do you mean?" Epsie asked. "I can give you the ability to change into a different kind of animal in this world rather than just 1. From now on, you can now turn your body into a Arachnae... go ahead and try it out..." Faron spoke.

Epsie looked stunned at this and tried to focus, her lower body changing and forming into the abdomen and legs of a spider! But her upper half remained the same. "Um... is it incomplete?" Midna asked from my shadow. "No... The Arachnae are a race of creatures with the upper half being human and the lower half being spider," Faron spoke. "I see... cool," Epsie smirked as she walked a bit and then shot a spool of string at a tree. Once she did so, she shot another string at another tree. "Hehe! This is gonna be fun!" Epsie smirked. "I'll go on ahead to the poisonous part of the woods! You guys catch up when ya can, WOOHOO!" Epsie exclaimed happily as she shot some more silk into the trees and shot off through the woods.

"Heehee! She looks happy! Now let's get some way to the woods... maybe that one man she rescued before to the west?" Midna smiled at me. "Sure," I said as I walked to the west and soon came across the house that we went to before, the man outside now and sitting near a fire. "Huh?... Who are you guys supposed to be?" the man asked, confusing me a bit. "What are you talking about?" I asked in confusion. "I... bear with me on this, but I said that because your shadow has eyes and hair... and I was saved by an invisible girl from evil bugs... now I can pretty much believe anything I see," the man spoke.

"I see... well, my name is Midna... and I can't really leave this shadow for fear of the light killing me..." Midna said with a bit of a shy voice. This was new to me. She was actually talking to a person in my world. "And I'm Coro, the one in charge of the gate to the Forest Temple... and judging by how you're dressed, you want to go that way, right?" the man asked. "Yes... and you probably heard our friend go off there, right?" Midna asked. "Yep. 'Woohoo' is what I heard. And it was the voice that spoke to me after saving me from horrid bugs... here, if you want to help her out, take these," Coro spoke.

He then handed me the key to the gate and a lantern filled with oil, which I really appreciated. "If you want to get to the temple, you'll need this oil lamp to get through the poisonous part of the woods. That gas will kill you if you aren't careful," Coro warned us. "T-Thanks... s-see ya," Midna frowned as she completely retreated her head into my shadow. "Just remember that the oil may need refilled from time to time!" Coro said to us as we walked away. "Got it!" I said back as I reached the area with the gate.

I quickly put in the key and we smiled when the gate completely opened for us to go inside. "Okay, once we're in that cave, I think I'm going to try something out..." Midna frowned to me. "And that would be?" I asked her. "I... I think I may try materializing myself in there... after all, caves are dark by default, and only a large amount of light can kill me," Midna frowned. "Okay... just so you know, I'll have my lantern out for some of it. Will that hurt you?" I asked her. "That's what I want to find out," Midna frowned.

Once we finally entered the cave and I got rid of the bats and rats first, I turned on my lantern and saw Midna materialize right in front of me, looking to have some kind of pain happen from being exposed to the lantern, but her being able to recover quite quickly. "Rgh... seems even a tiny flame can hurt me in this world... it feels strange to be in this world to be honest... I'm just so used to Twilight..." Midna frowned.

"So are you going to stay out her long enough for me to ask you some questions?" I asked her. "So long as none of them are about my intentions or where I come from or about me being a 'princess'," Midna frowned at me as she flew forward a bit to get out of my lantern's line of sight. "Okay... what was Twilight like before all of this happened? Was it a peaceful place?" I asked her. "Indeed it was... it was dark all the time, but the Twili that lived there were the kindest people you could hope to meet... until _he_ appeared..." Midna frowned. "Who is this 'he' person? You said he turned you into what you are now... so who was it?" I asked her. "You'll find that out eventually... I'll tell you when I feel more trusting of both you and Epsie," Midna frowned at me.

It was at this time that we finally reached the clearing and we saw that it was also completely darkened on the other side of the caves where the poison forest awaited us. "Okay... I'm going to see if I will get burned by that amount of light... I'll retreat back to your shadow if it hurts me..." Midna frowned. "Okay. Be careful you don't stretch your limits," I said to her. Upon getting a single finger into a speck of the light on the other side, however, and she immediately yelled a loud scream of pain, retreating to my shadow right afterwards.

"Was that Midna I heard?" I heard Epsie ask on the other side. "Um..." I tried to say before Midna interrupted. "J-Just don't talk to me right now... my finger is really hurt... ow..." Midna frowned in my shadow. "Oi... you tried to touch the sunlight, didn't ya?" Epsie asked her. "Y-Yeah... I just wanted to try out my limits..." Midna frowned. "Well now you know that you should probably stay in your shadow from now on, right?" I asked her. "Y-Yeah... unless we're in a place like Twilight or a cave, no coming out of the shadow... got it..." Midna frowned as we reached the area with the mist. "Hop on my butt and I'll shoot us over there with my spider silk," Epsie smirked at me.


	8. Ch8: Monkeys and Apes

I didn't expect a single bit of light to hurt me so much, but I got hurt so badly, I needed to stay in Link's shadow to recover the whole way towards the temple, not speaking a single word for it would ruin the healing process. "Is Midna okay, master Link?" I heard Epsie ask outside the shadow. "I honestly don't know... I had no idea that light would hurt her to that extent, even in a place with barely any light coming through," Link said with a sigh.

I watched everything that happened from Link's shadow and saw that we were in the Forest Temple now and that Link and Epsie were rescuing monkeys that were locked in cages. They also tried to cross a bridge to the other side of it, only for a monkey with a bulbous ass to destroy it with a thrown boomerang. I then felt no more pain in my finger, so I finally was able to talk again. "Whew... finally healed up..." I sighed as I poked my shadowy head out of Link's shadow, just as he rescued another monkey. It was the fourth monkey he had rescued overall.

"So, Midna? I hope you remain in master's shadow from now on after that last stunt," Epsie frowned at me. "You've got it easy, horse girl. You can stay in the realm of light and you can't get hurt by light... I'm different. I can only live in darkness. Even the slightest bit of light can hurt me very badly," I sighed with a frown. "Don't worry, Midna... I'm sure that you can come out again... maybe if it becomes nightfall?" Link asked. "You know... that may be a good idea... I have no idea of lunar light would hurt me, but if it does, I'll just heal myself in Link's shadow again..." I sighed.

"So what do we do now?" Epsie asked, looking at the monkeys that followed them. They began to make their own sounds before they pointed towards the area that they rescued the first monkey. "You're saying you can make a swing bridge to that bad monkey that broke the bridge? That would be greatly appreciated," Epsie smiled at the monkeys. "Sounds fun!" I smirked happily as Link and Epsie walked our group back to the starting area and then into the area where we first met the bad ape.

The 4 monkeys then began to fly like gymnasts over the pit and situated themselves perfectly for Link to cross over. It was also at this point that I noticed something else. It was sunset. I never really saw a sunset before, so I thought that it looked gorgeous, even though A: I could barely see it from the trees, only the dark red skies, and B: I was in Link's shadow. "Wow... I think I may be able to try out being in the lunar light soon," I gawked at the scenery.

"Well, first we should teach this monkey a lesson and, hopefully, we can net that sweet boomerang of his," Epsie smirked widely as she simply flew over the gap while Link used the monkeys like hand swings, being able to reach the other side fairly easily. And then we entered the door to the area and I heard some metal clank from behind us when the door closed. "What happened?" I asked, unable to see it from my standpoint. "The door closed and got blocked by a metal fence. If my math on dungeons is accurate, then that means a fight is coming up," Epsie smiled. "How would you know?" Link asked. "Believe it or not, master, I did a lot of studies in Ilia's house in secrecy, not even her knowing about them. And most of these studies were on the different temples surrounding our world," Epsie explained.

Once we reached the center arena, we heard a loud screech above us and the big bad ape came down from above, which I could tell made Epsie a bit confused. "Um... this guy is speaking in gibberish... almost as if he is speaking in a combo of ape and shadow beast... I think he's been corrupted by whatever darkness is in this place," Epsie said with a gasp. "Then let's snap him out of it! A good whack on the head should do it!" I exclaimed with a smile.

Link tried to find an opening to attack the ape and found that he could knock it off the pillars by rolling into the unstable foundation, allowing the monkey to be somewhat dazed upon landing. "HYAH!" Link exclaimed as he was about to swing a sword at the ape.. but Epsie stopped him before he could make a single sword swing. "Wait a minute... I have a better idea," she smiled as she took her Arachnae form and wrapped the monkey up in thread from her behind, the boomerang that he previously threw now coming back at him and, as I finally figured out her plan, the boomerang hit the monkey smack dab in the noggin, which made the boomerang clang to the ground and the monkey return to his senses... how did i know this? Because he didn't have any dark aura on him and his eyes went from red to normal black.

Epsie then looked at the monkey with a frown and the monkey tried to break free. "Yeah, yeah, you're welcome, and sorry for tying you up like this, but you were under a spell that made you dangerous..." Epsie frowned at him after he made a few noises. She then activated what I assumed to be her own shadow powers and the silk melted off of the monkey completely. "I hope you can help us out at some point. We need to defeat the evil power lurking in this place... the same that made you go ape... no offense..." Epsie smiled. The monkey made some noises and gave a thumbs up before jumping back up into the canopy.

It was also at this point that Link picked up the boomerang and something else happened. The boomerang began to spin on its own and I could feel a slight wind coming from it... a small tornado in fact! "I thank you, brave heroes! I was stolen by the evil forces and couldn't break free... I am a spirit of wind located in this boomerang. If you ever need to stir up a wind gust in times of need, just throw me at a location. I will cause a power of wind to happen that will make anything dizzy!" a cute, fairy-like voice said from the boomerang. "Well that sounds nifty! Maybe we can use this to get us through the left side of the bridges? The ones that are powered by wind?" Link asked. "That's the idea!" the spirit said before hooking itself onto Link's belt. And now we were off to go to the real big bad of this place.


	9. Ch9: Rescue the Monkeys!

When we went outside and saw that the apes were still there and offering to give us a hand, I smiled happily as Link used them to get over the gap again... but it was also at this point that Midna decided to try something out. The moon was out now and the sun was completely down, so she decided to come out of the shadow to try and test out her abilities when exposed to lunar light. And she found that it actually had a differing effect on her than sunlight! It didn't hurt her... It made her powered up!

"OH YEAH! I feel SO rejuvenated now! HEEHAA!" she laughed out loud, making Link giggle and the monkeys look confused at her behavior. "Do you think you can handle being in a room full of torches, Midna?" I asked her. "Hehe! I feel invincible in this moonlight! I bet that being exposed to fire won't be a problem for me!" Midna exclaimed as Link opened the door and we entered the torch-lit temple again, Midna immediately feeling a little less powerful and looking to be getting a small bit of pain from the light of the fire. But she didn't get burned, it just hurt her for a bit, and then she got used to it.

"Well... I feel... less pumped up than before... but at least I'm able to breathe in torch light right now... I'd still get burnt by sunlight, so I guess that torch light is just an acquired taste for me..." Midna frowned at this. I knew that she was the princess of the Twilight Realm, but even as an imp, she still looked on the positives. And I could tell just by sniffing her that she wasn't filled with malice at all... except for one person that I kind of expected her to have a huge hatred for. I had a feeling that even though she was bubbly on the outside, she was filled with determination, grit, and a will to do the right thing. That was something to respect, sure, but she needed to prove more to me outwardly before I could gain her trust completely.

"Just be careful that you don't get burned again, Midna," Link said with a frown as we continued to the west as I heard something in my head... it sounded like a cry for help. And it was coming from outside! "Um... you two go on... I'll wait outside for ya because I need to check something out there," I frowned at them. "Suuurreee..." Midna smiled. I frowned at this and went back outside, using my hearing to try and find who was asking for help. It came from the east, where I saw a monkey trapped in a cage just as before. I went up to her and knocked the cage open, allowing her to escape. "Whew! I never thought I'd get freed! Thanks!" the monkey said to me.

"Hey, just a question, but do you know where the evil of this place is?" I asked her. "Of course! It's in the deepest part of the temple, but the bridge there is completely destroyed! And because of the distance of the bridge, you'll need to save all of my fellow ape sisters before you can clear it. That's how large the gap is!" the monkey said. "Okay then... you gather the other monkeys that we rescued and we'll all meet up in the final room, okay?" I asked her. The monkey smiled and jumped towards the area with the other monkeys we rescued as I went towards the western side of the outside ruins where Link and Midna were now at.

"Nice to see you here again, Epsie. So what'd ya find out?" Midna asked with a cocky smirk. "I found out that the bridge to the dark power in this temple is out of commission. And in order for us to even reach across the gap, we'd need the help of every single monkey that has been caged up here," I explained. "Well, good thing that I managed to snag this while I was in there," Link said as he showed off what looked to be a very big key. Bigger than the others we'd been finding. "Hmm... ah! I can sniff that this had been hidden by a creature of Twilight origin! That means it must be for a locked door that contains the big bad," I gasped at it. "Then let's keep going forward," Midna smirked as she led us forward and into the next door.

On the other side of this one, we came across an area that had a bridge like the ones we'd been seeing. One that could turn with wind gusts. The only issue was that there was an utter lack of wind. And it was going the wrong way for Link to go across. "Allow me," the spirit within the boomerang smiled as Link brought it out and threw it at the spinner, allowing the bridge to turn for Link to pass. "You walk, we'll fly," I smiled at Link as I did just that, flying over the gap with a smile.

When I got to the other side and we entered the door, we saw that we had freed a total of 5 monkeys. And then they began to talk. "Ah! Fellow friends! There are still 3 more monkeys you need to save and they are all in these next 3 rooms! One to the right of us, and the west and east rooms from the corridor behind you! Free our sisters and we'll help you cross!" they said, which Link looked confused. "They need us to rescue 3 more monkeys in order to cross the gap. There's one in this room, one in the room to the right in the previous one, and one to the room on the left in the same area. I'll handle those doors, you handle these other areas, okay master?" I smiled at him. "Sounds fair to me," Link smiled at me.

I then flitted back into the room behind us and flew over to the room to the east, as the western room had a padlock on it. Upon me entering the door to the right, I saw that there were 3 holes covered in spider webbing and 3 giant spiders for each one. "Hehe!" I smirked as I wrapped them up in webbing in my own spider form, cutting their heads off with my hair sword afterwards. "Now that you're taken care of, time to choose... which of these is the right hole to drop down?" I asked as I slashed the webbing away to all of them. "Huh? Spider silk? Is someone up there? Please help!" I heard a female voice ask from below us. It was a voice that I recognized. The same exact monkey that we rescued when we rescued Talo!

"Don't worry! I'll get you out of there!" I exclaimed as I dropped down the hole I heard it from and landed right on top of the cage. "Huh?... Your voice... It sounds like that one horse from before!" the monkey gasped. "Got that right. Name's Epona. Nice to meet you," I smiled as I opened the cage with my hair sword, cutting the bars so that she could escape. "Thank you so much! Are you headed for the temple's center to deal with the monster that did this to us?" the monkey asked. "Precisely," I smiled at her. "Then you'll need this to rescue my sister in the other room here," she said as she handed me a key for the locked room.

"Thanks!" I smiled at her as I flew up out of the same hole and went out the door to be met with Link and Midna actually exiting the same door that had the lock on it... why? Because the key I had was actually one I never expected. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the key had some words on it that said 'master key'. Whatever this key was for, I was going to find out... and that's when I focused my power into it and I found out that, out of nowhere, the key turned into a large spear! "WHOA!" I exclaimed as I dropped it on the ground and it remained a spear. And the spear in question had powers of both Twilight and Hyrule in it.

"Neat spear! Where'd ya net it at?" Midna asked with a smirk. "A monkey gave it to me saying I needed it, and it was originally a key.. but then, when I focused power into it, it turned into this spear," I said with a frown. "Well, that beats my fanfiction," Midna smirked. I was about to ask before she cut me off. "Fourth wall joke. You wouldn't understand," Midna giggled. "Well, let's go beat this big baddie!" Link said, breaking the awkward air.


	10. Ch10: Forest Temple Boss

Once the monkeys helped us over the pit, we found ourselves staring down a giant door with a big keyhole in the middle. "Well, time to see if this key is what we needed," I said as I put the bigger of the keys into the lock, finding that it unlocked instantly! "Heh. Neat," Epsie smiled as she opened the door and we were finally into the lair of the beast. It looked like a big pool of poisonous water was in front of us as well as some platforms that had those bomb spiders from before. And when we walked forward some more, the door locked behind us and a small earthquake happened.

"W-What's going on?" Midna asked as she retreated back into my shadow. "I think we're in for a fight," Epsie smirked as something rose out of the water. There were 2 giant mouths on tentacles that came out that were covered in thorns and had eyes in their tongues! It looked monstrous! "Psst! Throw me at the bomb bugs and send me at those mouths!" the spirit in the boomerang whispered to me. I smiled and threw it at one of the bugs and the tornado did the rest by hitting the mouth on the right, making it retreat into the poisonous pond. "Ah! Now I got it!" Epsie smiled as she sent a spool of thread at the one bomb bug, making it come towards her before she swung it like a sling and made the bomb go off right in the monster's eyes, which made a loud roar afterwards as it sunk as well.

"Yeah! We did it!" Midna exclaimed. But then we heard rumbling again. "Not quite... we're just getting started," I frowned as the whole of the monster finally came out of the muck. The true monster was 20 feet tall and had a giant, slobbery mouth with an eye at the end of its tongue! And it showed how evil it was when it made the platforms with the bomb bugs disappear! "Shit! How do we hurt him now?!" Epsie exclaimed.

I looked up in the corner and saw something that I didn't expect. It was the one baboon we saved before! He started to shriek before riding down on the zipline and grabbing a bug from the ledge. "Thanks boy! You're doin' great!" Epsie smirked as she shot some thread at the bomb he had and swung it at the monster's true head, making it dazed as it landed on the ground in front of me. I then smirked and slashed at the eye five times before jumping in the air and sinking the blade directly into the eyeball. The monster screeched in agony at this and flailed around in pain before finally shriveling to nothingness!

"Nice moves, master," Epsie winked at me. But then something else happened. Some of the particles of the beast then started to form together into a large mask of sorts, one that I could tell had dark magic in it. "Ah! There it is!" Midna exclaimed from my shadow as she popped out of it. "This is what I've been looking for!" she giggled as she took the dark item and put in her safekeeping. "Midna... you're trying to collect Fused Shadows? Don't you realize those were the key factors of the Twili's exile to Twilight? That's how dangerous those artifacts are," Epsie frowned at her.

"Hmph. In the wrong hands, yes, they are dangerous. But in the right hands, they are the key to defeating the one responsible for this nonsense," Midna frowned as she made a little portal of her own. "Now let's not waste anymore time! Come along you two! We've got some others to save after all!" she said as she motioned us into her little portal. "Um... sure..." Epsie said as I simply smiled and followed her there.

Once we exited out on the other side of the portal, I noticed that we were now in the spring of Faron. But Midna had to revert to my shadow before anything else happened, and good thing too, as Faron then appeared from the spring. "Well done, heroes. Now the southern portion of your world has been freed of Twilight. Proceed northeast from these woods and then towards the west... it is there where you will find the next area enveloped by Twilight, as well as some of your friends. I trust you will succeed," Faron said before disappearing.

"W-Wait! Which friends are you talking about?! HEY! WAKE UP! ANSWER ME DAMMIT!" Epsie exclaimed at the light goddess, proving ineffective. No response. "We'll find out ourselves, Epsie. Trust me, we will save whoever they are and then some," I said to her as I tried to escort her away from Faron's spring. "F-Fine... we'll find out ourselves..." Epsie groaned as she walked away with me. "It's nearing sunrise... good thing I'm staying in your shadow right now," Midna said. When we went over to Coro's house on our way out, we saw that he was sleeping under the stars with the fire about to go out.

"I'll handle the fire," Epsie smiled as she zapped the wood with a fire spell, one made of black flames. "Twilight flames? Really? Why not use Link's lantern?" Midna asked from my shadow. "Maybe I wanted to light it myself? I don't need help with these things," Epsie frowned. "Easy, girls. We need to rescue our friends to the west, so let's rescue our friends to the west, okay?" I asked. "Fine," Midna and Epsie both groaned.


	11. Ch11: Twilight Time Again

Once we walked to the north and then to the west, we saw another part of Hylia enveloped in Twilight, which all three of us entered (with Epsie taking Link in herself). "Okay, now we're in Twilight... wait..." Epsie said as she sniffed the air, something that confused me. She then dropped wolf Link on the ground and used her sniffer to try and find something. She eventually stopped when she found a wooden sword embedded in the ground, which she sniffed all over before gasping. "T-This smell... It's... It's all the young ones of our village!... But... mm... No Ilia... damn, she must have been taken somewhere different," Epsie frowned as she looked around and then at us.

Link started to whimper a bit and Epsie translated. "Yes. Talo, Malo, Colin, and Beth. All four of them came this way... I'll lead us there," Epsie said as she turned into a dog herself, sniffing the air for the children as we followed behind her. But we couldn't get too far, as we soon encountered a large gap out of nowhere! "Wait... I've been here before... there's supposed to be a bridge here! Where'd the damn bridge go?!" Epsie exclaimed. "No idea... wait..." I said as I looked above us and I saw another Twilight Portal open up above us, 4 Shadow Warriors dropping out of it.

"Dammit... this is why I left Twilight in the first place. Things disappear out of nowhere and every area has an un-welcoming party. Let's deal with these bastards!" Epsie exclaimed, slashing at them with her spear until they began to fall one by one, which I followed suit by attacking one of them as well. Once I defeated him, Epsie defeated the last of the bunch and the portal was now free to use.

"You know... I think I saw that bridge before... a giant plank of wood stood up against a cliff on the way to the one temple. How about we warp back there with this portal and then the duo saw what I was talking about. The bridge was right in the gorge where we fought the 2nd horde of Shadow beasts! "So... how do we teleport it back if you're stuck in master's shadow?" Epsie asked me. "Can't you do that?" I asked her back. "Peh. I was born as a Shadow Beast, not a Twili, so I don't have all of the powers you do," Epsie frowned. "Very well. I can teleport it, but I'd require to be inside of your shadow to do so," I frowned.

Epsie frowned and flew into the air, pointing to her shadow at the same time. I then swapped Link's shadow for Epsie's and focused my powers on the bridge. I managed to pick it up with my telekinesis, and warped it and the rest of us back to the Twilight portal. "Now... gently..." I said as I tried to put it back into place, doing it with a careful focus, fixing the bridge for us to cross. "Gotta admit, that was pretty cool," Epsie said. "A compliment? Why thank you!" I smiled with my quick wit, making her groan at it. It honestly impressed me that she was sassier than I was!

Epsie then sniffed the air and led us towards a gate to the far west. Sadly, it was closed up, but Link was able to dig under it and Epsie could simply fly over it. "Kakariko Village... I remember when Ilia took me here that one time... that hot spring was very good," Epsie smiled. Link started to bark at this and Epsie looked at him with a blush. "Well, master, you're not the first to see me in this form. That honor goes to Ilia, who treats me like a sister that she never had," Epsie smirked. "Well, that was a surprise. But where is the spring at? We need to get a tear collecting vial," I frowned.

Epsie pointed to the left and I saw it was right there. "Brave heroes... you have come at a bad time... I am dwindling in life... my essence has been stolen... please... take this vial... save my tears stolen by those horrid bugs..." the spirit said weakly, giving us the vial afterwards. "Okay, now let's handle going to find those bugs," Epsie smirked as we tried to go towards the first house and then we got stopped by Shadow Beast warriors! "OH COME ON! Just let us see our friends again, bastards!" Epsie exclaimed as she grew to her dragon size again and smashed them all once more. "A little overkill, wasn't it?" I heard a voice say from behind the window. It was one of an older man.

Epsie shrunk herself back to normal and approached the window in her spirit form, looking at the man with a frown. "WHOA! Ghost!" he exclaimed in shock. "No. I am definitely as alive as you are. Now let me in. I just took care of those monsters. Besides... I can see some of my friends in there..." Epsie said as she pointed to the door. "Um... okay... sure..." the man said as he went over to the door and opened it up, allowing our trio to enter the door.

"Why are you opening the door, Barnes? I doubt that there are people out there that are friendly," another voice said. A deeper voiced one. "Believe me, sir. I am not your enemy. I'm a friendly... especially... to you four," Epsie said as she entered the door and Link and I went in ourselves quietly and unable to be seen. "W-What do you mean that you know us?... Are you... are you friends with Link?" one of the boys asked. "Am I friends with him? Maybe I should show you the form of mine that you are more familiar with," Epsie smirked as she turned into her horse form, making the kids look shell shocked.

"E-E-Epona?" the one girl asked in shock. "Yes. And I'm not alone. Though you can't see him, master Link is with me as well," Epsie smiled. "'Master' Link? What are you implying?" one of the other boys asked. "He is my owner, so therefore, he is my master. I also respect him dutifully... now have you seen any bugs nearby? Ones that are big and can use electricity?"


	12. Ch12: Kakariko's Bug Infestation

"Bugs that shoot electricity?" Colin asked with confusion. "Yes, we need to defeat all the bugs in this area to return the place to normal and have it be free of these Shadow creatures," I explained with a kind smile. "Well, there should be a few bugs that we trapped in the basement underneath the stone slab. You'll need to light the torches in this room to get it to move. Just, please make sure no harm comes to the children?" the deeper voice man asked with concern. "I promise they won't have a claw on them. I'd give my life to defend my Master's friends," I said with a dutiful smile as I then saw Midna grab a nearby torch and start to light the torches with it, managing to make the slab move.

The moment that we got into the basement, we already saw the bugs were trying to escape. I swiftly attacked them with my mantis arms and sliced them to ribbons, there being a total of 2 down there. "That's them taken care of. Now time to sniff out the rest," I said, me hoisting myself, Master Link, and Midna out of the basement and meeting up with the others. "Are the bugs gone?" Beth asked with concern on her face. "Yes, the ones in here are gone. But you should still stay here. I promise, Master Link, Midna, and I will free this place from those horrid pests," I said to her with a kind smile.

"Okay. Be careful," Talo said with a small smile. Link smiled in his wolf form and we proceeded out of the house to try and find the rest of the bugs. I let out my sniffer again and looked up towards the other buildings in the town. "I'm going to investigate these buildings. They reek of Shadow Bug scent," I said with a snort, rushing into on of the buildings and finding that the bugs were being a bit craftier than usual. How? They were hiding themselves in the furnaces and under large crates! I pushed one crate out of the way and quickly eliminated the bug afterwards. Then, I went to the next house and burned the little bugs out of the furnace with some fire. And once that was done, I gasped as I heard a loud bang happen at the top of a hill, me wondering what made the noise.

I immediately rushed up to the hill and saw Midna and Master Link escape the burning building and that three tears of light were all that remained inside the charred building. "Master Link! Are you okay?" I asked him, rushing up and hugging him with concern, Link whimpering at that. "Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you," he said. "We had to get the bugs out of the furnace by flaming it, but they caught fire and lit the fuses on every single flammable item in the house... and judging from how quickly it caught fire and the explosions, I think it was fireworks," Midna said with a sigh.

"Don't worry me like that again, guys, okay?" I said sternly. "Okay, we promise to be more careful," Link sighed. "Me too," Midna frowned. This was rare to see Midna show any kind of regret, so I just couldn't help myself. "First time I've seen you own up to your mistakes, Midna. You got a head cold or somethin'?" I smirked at her, Midna frowning and smacking me in the face with a punch of her hair, which actually did hurt, though not by much. "You kind of deserved that, to be honest," Link smiled at me. "I know, I just couldn't help myself," I giggled.

It was after collecting the light tears that I caught a sniff of another bug, this time on a high vantage point above the town, which I immediately headed for with my dragon wings. I rushed the bug and slashed it with mantis claws, the bug producing the light tear in a snap. But then I heard Link howling for me. "HEEY! We found a bug in the graveyard!" Link howled loudly, me looking back to him and seeing he was by an area near the spring, me going towards him with my wings and collecting the light tear that he had got from the bug.

"Okay, there are still a few more tears of light left, but I can't smell anymore bugs in town... where could they be?" I frowned as I looked around until I saw something in the distance. The mountain. The one where the Goron tribe lived. "Maybe they'll be on the mountain? Want to bet, guys?" I smiled at them. "Sure, I'll take that bet. How about 20 rupees?" Link smiled. "Twenty rupees it is," I smirked at him as we went on our way to the mountain, me needing to help Link up quite the large ladder as I saw a Goron at the top.

"Wha?! Intruder! State your business!" the Goron said to me sternly. I looked at him with a smile and bowed politely. "My name is Epona. I wish to help rid your land of Twilight and all the monsters with it," I said to him, the Goron looking at me in confusion. "Twilight? What's that?" he asked. "Have you noticed the sky lately? How brownish-orange it is? Doesn't look like a normal sky, does it?" I asked him, the Goron gasping when he did notice it finally.

"Oh my! I've been so focused on looking out for trespassers, I never noticed the sky had changed!... But I'm afraid that I can't allow entry for any strangers unless they were to beat me in a wrestling match," the Goron said, me looking in the distance to see that Link and Midna had ventured on for now. "Fine, just so you know, though you're made of rock, I'm made of iron scales," I smiled as I then changed my form to my full dragon likeness, the Goron gawking at my new size. "No way! A shapeshifter?! No way am I going to beat you at that size... go on through, miss," the Goron said wisely. "Wise decision, sir," I smirked at him as I flew myself over to where Link and Midna were, seeing they had defeated another bug and I dropped down to collect the light tear, the duo looking surprised at my entry. "Whoa! Don't spook us like that!" Midna exclaimed in surprise.

"Hehe, you were the ones to go on without me. You're lucky to be able to be unseen. I had to get challenged to a wrestling match to go forward... which the Goron quickly forfeited when I went full dragon," I smirked at them. "Um, yeah, that's called cheating," Midna snickered. "Well, it got the job done, and we still need three more bugs to go. Let's find them quickly," I said, leading the duo to the mountain in question and me already seeing another bug on the wall, which I killed with a quick slice of my scythe hands. But then, a bunch of Shadow Beasts came out and attacked, there being four of them in total with one staying a bit away from the group. After demolishing them and earning another warp area above us (as was custom whenever we defeated these types of beasts for some odd reason), I took care of another bug and then smelled the final one in the hot springs on the other side of the rock face in front of us.

"Want me to fly us over this? I smell the final bug in the hot spring," I smiled at Link. "I'd like that," Link smiled. "I wouldn't like that," Midna frowned. "Then you can fly yourself over, then. Besides, that is one thing you're good at regardless," I smiled at her as I turned into a large bird and picked Link up with my feet, flying our duo over the rock wall and letting Link go to dive directly into the bug and destroy it, me collecting the final tear of light. And once I did, our group suddenly got cloaked in a bright light and we then appeared directly at the spring, just as before, where I threw the tear vessel into the spring and smiled at how Midna was now in my shadow. "That was a good bit of fun, I'd say," Midna smiled as the spring's guardian suddenly appeared. And this one took the form of a large eagle perched atop a ball of light.

"O great heroes of Ordon... I am Eldin, the guardian of this spring and these mountains," the bird said calmly. "It's nice to meet ya," I said, since I was in a good mood. "Times are grim, heroes... the dark force that once turned this land into Twilight is in the temple where the mountain dwellers reside. You must defeat this darkness... and for you, shape-shifting heroine, I grant you the gift of becoming a different creature. You will now be able to become a golem at will, even in the world of light... fare thee well, and good luck," the spirit said, me gawking at the fact that I was going to be able to be stronger than a Goron in the real world! "Oh heck yeah!" I smiled at that as I then tested it out and turned myself into my golem form, which stood at least 10 feet tall and I was made completely of iron.

"Whoa! Epona just turned into a golem! That's so cool!" I heard Talo gawk from the doorway as he and the others rushed out to us and I went up to Colin with a smile, as he had been knocked over in the process. "Nice to see you, Colin," I smiled as I turned myself back to normal and he giggled at me. I was then approached by the village residents of Kakariko. "So, you are the Link that the children and the shapeshifter mentioned... my name is Renado. And this is my daughter, Luda... the old man with the welding mask is Barnes," the tall one in the robes said, me smiling at the trio with kindness. "My name is Epona. But you can call me Epsie," I smiled at them. "And I'm Link," Link smiled kindly... and then I saw Midna poke her head from my shadow, which spooked the others a bit before she talked. "A-And I'm Midna... Nice to meet you," she said in a shy manner, which made me curious that she was actually talking to them.


	13. Ch13: Goblin King Dethroned

"Who is your... shadowy friend?" Barnes asked at Midna appearing from Epsie's shadow. "She's our ally from the Twilight Realm. She was turned into an imp by the leader of the one turning the world into Twilight. We're all embarking to defeat this monster as well as rescue our friends... by the way, do you guys know where Ilia went to?" I asked the group of kids from my village, them all looking at me with a frown and shaking their heads no. "The last we saw her, she escaped to the north after taking out one of those goblin monsters... but there's something you should know, guys..." Colin said, me looking at him with confusion. "Ilia... she can't remember anything but her name... we tried to help her remember, but she treated us like we were complete strangers," Colin said, Epsie gasping at that as did I, her curling her fists as I remembered what that goblin leader did to her. He smashed her in the head with a club strike.

"Ilia... those monsters are going to pay! All of our fun times... what if they'll be gone forever?! And her father! He'll be distraught to hear she doesn't even remember him..." Epsie growled as I then heard something from behind me. I turned around and growled angrily as I happened to see the people I most wanted to hurt right now. The goblins. And among them was the leader of them, who had a larger frame, was covered in armor, road a giant boar, and had a giant, spiked club in his hands. "YOU! GET OVER HERE!" Epsie exclaimed angrily at him as she turned into her Arachne form and shot a spool of thread at his boar's feet, tripping it intentionally and causing the goblin leader to fly off of his swine. And when he did, Epsie then turned into her golem form and grabbed him with one hand, slamming him into the ground multiple times until I was sure I heard his bones break.

And it was then that Epsie spoke to him in his own language, which I could understand her as I spoke some goblin myself. "IF I EVER SEE OR HEAR OF YOUR EVIL AGAIN, I AM GOING TO REMOVE YOUR INTESTINES AND FORCE YOU TO EAT THEM! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, ASSHOLE?!" she exclaimed in Goblin tongue, the monster quivering in fear and gulping at that. He then nodded his head and spoke in his own language. "O-Okay, I won't work for Zaant anymore, I promise!" he said in absolute fear, Epsie then smiling at him with a glare in my eyes. "Good. Now get out of here and NEVER return!" Epsie yelled at him in Goblin language again, her throwing him over to his boar and making him gulp as I saw both his legs were broken. He then turned tail and ran, the other goblin minions already having fled after Epsie had completely manhandled their boss.

"That was so awesome! What were you saying to him with that intimidating voice?" Beth asked Epsie with a smile. "I told him that if I ever see him or hear of him doing bad things again, I was going to tear out his intestines and force him to eat them... and he told me the one responsible for the Twilight. His name is Zaant," Epona said, Midna gasping at that and looking at me from within Epsie's shadow. "He works for Zaant?! That's the jerk who turned me into an imp!" Midna growled lowly. "Well, then it looks like we're going to have to get moving. Eldin said that the next Fused Shadow is going to be in a temple resided with the Goron Tribe," I said.

"You may not have much luck, sadly," Luda said as she looked towards the mountain. "The Gorons have become very hostile towards any humans coming to the mountain. The gatekeeper to the mountain refuses to let anyone pass unless they beat him in wrestling. I happen to know of only one human that has ever defeated a Goron in a feat of strength. His name is Bo, which you may know as the mayor of Ordon. I suggest that you go back to tell him that the young ones are safe here as well as find out how to defeat the Gorons... I know you may be able to beat them, shapeshifter, but Link may need something special," Renado said.

"Understood. Would you like to warp there for a change, Master?" Epsie smiled at me, the other kids smiling at her calling me Master. "I think I'd like that, Epsie," I said, Epsie snapping her fingers and our duo warping out of thin air and reappearing at the warp hole that the goblin leader placed in the Ordon Spring. "Let's go into town," I said, our group going on our way and going to the village. We then saw Bo and he looked at us in surprise.

"I-It's Link! Where have you been?" the mayor asked in shock when he saw me. "We have things to discuss with you, Mayor Bo. Very important things," Epsie said to him. "And Epsie too. Come on in," Bo said, me looking at Epsie and wondering how many more people she allowed to see her true form. Once inside Bo's house, we then explained the whole situation and how we had found four of the five children as well as mentioning Ilia's condition. "So the others are safe, but Ilia... she lost almost all of her memory from a blow to the head?" Bo asked. "Yes. And the children claim that Ilia ran out of town on one of the boars owned by the goblins after having defeated one in battle. She's probably going to try and head out to Hyrule most likely," Epsie said.

"That is problematic... please, if you happen to see her, please try to help he regain her memories?" Bo asked with concern. "We will. But we need to know if you could help us with something in the meantime," I said to him. Bo looked at me with a smile and nodded. "What do you need?" Bo asked. "Well, we need to go after a Fused Shadow in the Goron's temple, but the Goron tribe is refusing to let humans enter unless they can beat them in wrestling. Renado said you were the only one to have ever bested a Goron in wrestling, so we wanted to know if you could help Master Link learn the secret to defeating the Gorons," Epsie said.

"Well, I do know the secret. You'll need to use something special to increase your weight so you can hold your own against the Goron's rock-hard bodies. Follow me," Bo said, him leading us to his room and me seeing a chest nearby. "Go on, open it up," he smiled, me going to it and grabbing what was inside. And what were they? Extremely heavy boots that were made out of steel!

"Whoa! These are heavy!" I gawked as I looked at my Shadow and wondered if Midna could help hold onto it. "Midna, do you think you can help hold this? I'll get a broken back if I have to carry this around everywhere," I said to her. "Sure, that much I can handle," Midna smiled from my shadow, Bo looking surprised by her appearance as she grabbed the boots and snapped them into her shadow being. "You have a Shadow creature on your side, do you?" Bo asked. "Well... I used to be a Twili, but then some asshole turned me into an imp as a joke and stole the throne of Twilight for himself! UGH! How I hate that asshole Zaant!" Midna groaned, me wondering one thing in particular.

"Hey, Midna?" I asked her, getting her attention. "When we get some alone time, can you tell me the full extent of your past? Me and Epsie?" I asked her. Midna smiled and nodded at me from my shadow. "I will. Once we go to the Goron Mines, I'll tell you everything," Midna said.


	14. Ch14: Zaant Appears

Once we warped back to Kakariko Village (and surprised the heck out of Barnes and the kids) we then proceeded towards Death Mountain... only for us to hear a scream from inside of the town. Link immediately turned around to see who it was and I had to poke my head out of his shadow to see. And what did I see? One of the kids, the blonde one, was laying on the ground with a wound on his shoulder. And the one who caused the wound? "Zaant..." I growled lowly as Link rushed to the monster with a glare in his eyes. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO COLLIN?!" Link exclaimed at Zaant, demanding an answer. Zaant stood up and turned around to look at Link, his movements slow and intimidating, which scared the other kids deeply.

"I have given him the branding of the Twilight. In only 24 hours, he will become a Twili. And anyone with half a brain knows that a Twili will die if exposed to even a fraction of sunlight," Zaant said with a very sinister cackle soon after, me gasping and seeing that the moon had come out finally. It was now time for me to shine. "YOU BASTARD!" I exclaimed as I hopped forth from Link's shadow and grabbed Zaant's body with my hair, surprising him as I actually managed to pin him down! "Midna... you...!" Zaant glared at me.

"Release Collin from this curse right now, or would you rather me smash your face in with fists of steel?" Epsie growled as she turned into her new golem form and smashed her fists together, making a loud clanking sound. "Very well," Zaant growled, Collin gasping as he felt his shoulder and I looked at it. It no longer had the mark on it. "Now leave these innocent people alone!" Link growled at him. Zaant simply cackled and disappeared soon after, de-materializing his body into Twilight. "That was Zaant?... He tried to send a blast of energy at Beth, but I shielded her from it and got hit in the shoulder... and what's a Twili?" Collin asked.

"A Twili is a person that resides in the realm of Twilight. They were banished there due to a great war between the Twili race and the Hylians eons ago. After their banishment to Twilight, the Hylians put a curse on all Twili people. If they were to be exposed to too much light, whether artificial, spectral, or sunlight, they'd be slowly poisoned and killed. Only the patriarchs of the Twili race or those who are incredibly powerful in magic may be able to traverse the world of Light with no negative effects... I was one such Twili, the ruler of them... then Zaant betrayed me, leading to all of these events that have happened... me turning into an imp means I am now susceptible to being killed by too much light. Zaant has gained some form of powerful magic in his body, which allows him to trap areas within Twilight as well as traverse the world of Light with no ill effects. He wears the bird mask to not only look imposing, but to protect his face from the sun, as it is the only part of his body that can be burnt and poisoned," Midna said, everyone looking at her and almost all of us gobsmacked by her speech.

"Whoa... I had no idea that all of that had happened to you, Midna... now I see why you want to get these Fused Shadows by any means necessary. To stop Zaant and this war he's causing..." Epsie gawked at me, which I felt a bit weirded out at. "Midna..." Link said as he put his hand on my shoulder, hoisting me up to look him in the eyes. "We're going to help you stop Zaant from hurting anymore people. No matter what, we need to stop this madman. And we all have our reasons now. I want to stop him because he is hurting innocent people. Epsie wants to stop him because he hurt Ilia. And you want to stop him because he betrayed you and turned you into an imp. We need to get going to the Goron Mines right now to save time," Link said, me looking into his blue eyes and smiling... I never noticed before, but he had the look of a true hero... he'd be willing to protect anyone he cared for... and now I was one of them. "Let's get going. I'll warp us to the volcano area to save time," I said, me snapping my fingers and our trio being warped to the volcano immediately. But when we did so, I immediately retreated into Epsie's shadow. Why? The volcano was erupting and a giant skewer of lava fell literally inches away from my body! Even that kind of light hurt me a bit and I didn't want to risk any lasting damage.

Link and Epsie then proceeded to climb to the top of the volcano and we were then met with a bunch of Gorons that wanted to hurt us, but a loud voice stopped them just in time. "That's enough!" the voice boomed from the back of the cave. "Do you really think that a duo of humans are worth all of you ganging up on them at once?" the Goron said, him looking to be a bit larger and older than the rest. Definitely an elder.

"I am Gon Coron. Who are you to have made it this far?" the elder asked. "I'm Link, this is Epsie," Link explained. "And I'm Midna," I said as I poked my head out of the shadow and only my head. There was torches lit all over the room. "So we have two members from the realm of Twilight and a human? What business do you have with us Gorons?" the elder asked. "We want to have the Fused Shadow that's being kept in your mines to stop a madman from spreading Twilight across the land," Epsie said, that getting the elder's attention.

"Really?... Well, normally we do not trust outsiders, but for this time, I may make an exception... see, our village Patriarch went into the mines along with myself and the other elders to check up on the treasure, the Fused Shadow. But upon touching it, the Patriarch turned into a frightful monster... we had to seal him in the deepest parts of the mines. But because of our Patriarch's madness, the volcano has been in pain as well, raining fire and brimstone at sporadic intervals. I will allow your group access to the mines if at least one of you can defeat me in a sumo wrestling match," Gon Coron said. "Then let me handle it. I loved practicing Sumo and I could take on Bo on any day no matter the weather," Epsie smiled, Link placing his hand on her shoulder. "Epsie, remind me to ask you how many other people know your true identity?" Link smiled. "I'll tell you about it after I beat this guy in a wrestling match. I don't even think I need to go golem for this one," Epsie smirked. I wondered if she really was that strong. To be stronger than a creature literally made of rocks... I would be quite impressed if she could handle taking on an Elder of the Gorons.


	15. Ch15: The Goron Mines (Part 1)

Link and Midna were both gobsmacked when I was able to not only match the blows of Gon Coron, but also managed to push him out of the ring fairly easily, all of them and even the Goron members surprised at my strength and skill. "You are quite strong despite your looks, twilight being. Okay, I will allow you into the mines with your companions. While you traverse them, seek out the three other elders to receive their key shards. Only by combining all three will you be able to reach our Patriarch's sealed chamber," Gon Coron said. "Thanks for the info and for a good workout," I smiled at him as I stretched my arms a bit and our trio proceeded into the mines. And when we did, the first thing we saw? Lava everywhere, some of it even spouting in between certain gaps that could be traversed with some jumps.

"Would you like it if I could carry you over this lava and to the other side with a spool of silk?" I smiled at Link as I let out my Arachne form. "Just make sure that the web doesn't get burnt to a crisp," Link smiled. I then grabbed hold of him and shot a spool of webbing across the room and to the other side, making sure it wouldn't get close to the lava in the process. And when I did so, I then propelled myself across it, our group reaching the door on the other side extremely quickly. It was here that we came across a hurdle with a closed door and a large weight next to it. "I'll put pressure on the weight," I smirked as I jumped up to the weight and turned into my golem form. The moment I did, my excess weight sent the weight down to the ground, the door opening in a snap for us.

"Nice moves, Epsie!" Midna smiled at me. "Thanks, hon," I smiled at her, Midna poking her head out of the shadow at that. "D-Did you just call me hon?" Midna asked. "Well, after what you did back in the village... let's just say you have earned my respect. And that's not an easy thing to do," I smiled at her. "So that means you'll be more friendly to those that gain your respect?" Link asked me. "Correct, Master," I smiled at him as we went through the door and we came across a large maze of different platforms and I saw multiple cranes above us that looked to have a special metal attached to them. "Those cranes are lined with Magnettium. If we can find a way to activate those cranes, we can be able to hook onto those cranes with your iron boots and my golem form," I explained. "That sounds awesome!" Link smiled.

After dealing with some goblin enemies in the room and collecting a key, we proceeded to the right of the area and through a door into an area that looked to be filled with more lava and we happened to see a door above a large structure. But it was here that I gasped when I got a whiff of something. "Ah! I smell the scent of a Goron beyond that door! Let's web over there!" I said as I sent out an Arachne web again and I latched onto Link, our duo zooming over to the door in a snap and us entering it soon after. And when we did, we came across quite the unique room. It had walls that were coated in Magnettium and there were fire slugs on the walls as well. "Time to go golem," I smiled as I turned into a golem and Midna snapped her fingers to give Link his metal boots.

We then proceeded over the magnetic walls and I smiled at how the blood rushed through my veins oddly when I did it. It made me feel cool almost! And when we got on the other side of the chasm, we entered the next door and jumped down from the ladder area and surprised the elder at the bottom. "Oh my! A human and a Twilight being have arrived?... Hmm... You must be very strong to have gained Gon Coron's approval to enter the mines. I am Gor Amoto," the elder smiled, him looking to be quite short while also having some smoke-producing pores on his back and head.

"I'm Link, this is Epsie," Link smiled, Midna not poking her head out for a change. "Gon Coron asked us to find the elders and collect the key shards so we can rescue your Patriarch," I explained. "But of course. Here, take this key shard. And in the chest behind me is a map of the mines. Use it to aid you in your quest," Gor Amoto smiled. "Thanks," I smiled at him as I got the map and Link received the key shard. We then proceeded out the way we came in and, once we returned to the area with the lava, I noticed a strange button in front of us. It looked quite bulky on top of that. "Hmm..." I smiled as I turned into my golem state and pressed the button. And what happened after that?

I screamed in shock as I suddenly felt my body turn upside-down and I felt my feet touch the ceiling! And when I looked upwards, I saw Master Link looking up at me in surprise as well. "Whoa! You're on the ceiling! Maybe I can join you if I push that button too," Link smiled as I stepped out of the area for him and my master then stepped on the switch with his iron boots, him being sent to the ceiling soon after. We then proceeded through the top part of the ceiling, which the map said was the second floor. Once we moved to the end of the area, we came across a door that led to an upper area in the room with the cranes.

Link and I then dealt with a few goblins surrounding a switch and, when I pressed it, the crane started up in an instant and the crane made a very strong magnetic pull to it from the Magnettium coating it. "We'll need to get on this one at a time. I'll go first, then you," I smiled at Link. "Of course, ladies first," Link smiled. "Hmm... not only is he heroic and sexy... he's courteous too..." I heard Midna say from my shadow, Link hearing her too. "Heh, what'd you say, Midna?" I smiled at her, Midna gasping and covering my mouth with her hair while still hiding in my shadow. "I heard you too, Midna. It's not her fault," Link smiled, Midna gulping before snickering slightly. "Okay, I like you romantically, so what?" Midna smiled. "Well... Ilia and I were quite close before all this happened... maybe, when we restore her memory, you could convince her to share me?" Link smiled, Midna smiling at that. "I'd love that," Midna smiled as I then ended her conversation with Link as the crane came to our area and I turned into golem form. "You're no fair, you know that?" Midna pouted. "All's fair in love and war," I smiled at her.


End file.
